Courtney Love on Dave Grohl Hug: ‘We Just Both Knew It Was Time To Let It Go’
It was the hug felt 'round the world. Kurt Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, who had battled with Krist Novoselic and to a greater extent Dave Grohl over how to handle Nirvana's musical legacy over the years, openly embraced both during her speech at the band's Rock Hall and Roll Hall of Fame induction. But even before the public got to see the peaceful public declaration, there was a more private one.
In a new interview, Love tells Pitchfork, "On my way to the bathroom, I saw Grohl, and Grohl saw me, and he came up to me first -- which really pissed me off, because I was going to go up to him first. [Laughs] I wanted to beat him to the punch. I was like, 'All right, no matter what happens, we're not going to be bitches.' That was my attitude going in, and obviously his. Not much else needs to be said. We just both knew it was time to let it go, and we were ready to do it."
The singer stated that it had been 20 years of animosity and that she and Grohl never even spoke at Cobain's funeral. But after all the public feuding, she explains, "We just buried it. It was really deep. It brings tears to my eyes to even talk about it. There were certain lawyers who called me tearfully and said it was the most moving moment of the night. There were some hecklers who booed me, which was weird and off and scary. I just ignored it. I just looked at who was onstage and was like, 'Ah, f--- it.'"
Love says she and Grohl actually did find some common ground. She revealed, "Grohl said something good while skirting around the issue of us slamming each other for 20 years: It was just our way of dealing with the carnage we had to deal with. Someone suggested we go into the press room and hug it out, but I was like, 'What? Nooo.' We hugged privately. We didn't whore it out. It was genuine. I had this long speech, which I worked my ass off on, and then I saw it on the teleprompter, and was just like, 'Don't even bother, just get this over with and bury the hatchet.'"
Love also says she initially found the plan for the Nirvana performance at the Rock Hall off-putting, but eventually came around. "I thought it was sexist, and a little bit ghettoizing," said Love of the female-fronted performance. "But then I was like, 'No, Kurt would have loved this.' And there's reality to it."
Continuing her thoughts on the special guests, Love added, "Apparently no high profile dudes wanted to do it. It's interesting, isn't it? I mean, I don't know where Lorde is going. I like the St. Vincent girl a lot -- I looked at some of her YouTubes and I like her look, her attitude, her whole thing. She was pretty cool, especially for being as nervous as she probably was. But I am telling you -- the Kim Gordon moment was so punk. Kim gave the punkest performance, the one that Kurt would've approved of the most. It was the punkest thing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has ever seen."
To check out more of Pitchfork's interview with Courtney Love, click here.